More than 100 parents spent the night outside Clonturk Community College in Whitehall, Dublin over the weekend in hopes of gaining a school place for their child.
Parents set up camp from 7pm on Sunday outside the secondary school as they waited for doors to open at 10am this morning when the school would open its enrolment.
One of the main reasons for the demand was the fact that the school is part of the Educate Together network which promotes “equality of access to children irrespective of their social, cultural or religious background”.
Principal Susan Campbell was expecting a large turnout but was shocked by the huge numbers that showed up the night before to be in line for a place.
“We are shocked that so many people are here today and so many people were here yesterday,” she told The Independent.
“We got a sense of how interested people were last Wednesday when we had our open evening, but we had no idea it would be this popular."
Overwhelming to see so many dedicated parents queuing all night for next years enrollment @EducateTogether @CDETB pic.twitter.com/A23p2256tC
— Clonturk CC (@clonturkcc) October 3, 2016
Unfortunately for many parents however, they did not get a place in the sought after school on this occasion.
“I am actually devastated for the parents, because if I could have predicted this, we would have looked at how we were going to handle applications but we are a brand new school. Last year, only 47 students applied."
#Breaking: Over 100 parents camp outside secondary school to gain place for children. https://t.co/COz74bkSdM pic.twitter.com/WwMK9Id71k
— Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) October 3, 2016
However, the principal said she is making every effort to make sure everyone who wants a place will get one.
“We will be onto the department as soon as we can and ensure there are enough places for anybody who needs them.”
